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Defense attorneys seeking to derail the trial of five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks are asking a military judge to order President Barack Obama and former president George W. Bush, Vice President Joe Biden, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Attorney General Eric Holder to testify at the Guantánamo war court.

At issue in the motion unsealed Wednesday evening at the Pentagon is whether accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators can get a fair capital murder terror trial from a military jury of 12 or more U.S. officers.

Attorneys for the accused argue they cannot, citing “widespread pretrial publicity that has included unending prejudicial statements from the highest public officials in the U.S. government.” They are asking the military judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, to acknowledge the political influence in the process and, if not throw out the case entirely, “remove death as a potential sentence” — even before the case is presented to a jury at least a year from now.

“For the past 10 years, through the administrations of two presidents, these accused have consistently been described as ‘thugs,’ ‘murderers,’ and ‘terrorists’ who ‘planned the 9/11 attacks’ and must ‘face justice,’ ” the lawyers argued.

“It can easily be understood by members of the public that this system of military commissions exists solely for the purpose of imposing a death sentence upon these accused.”

Madness.

Good men sleep peaceably in their beds at night because
rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Well shit, I guess if we can't give them a fair trial we'll have to do the hanging first!

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyesAnd clever in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21 NASB

Other than KSM, I wonder how much intel we really got from these people. I've always maintained they should have died where we found 'em.

No, but there's no need for trials yet. Combatants caught on the battlefield, or pretty much anywhere, can be detained for the duration of hostilities.

Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

Part I : General provisions

ARTICLE 4

A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:

(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.

(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, incuding those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:

(a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;

(b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;

(c) that of carrying arms openly;

(d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

>SNIP<

B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under the present Convention:

(1) Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the occupied country, if the occupying Power considers it necessary by reason of such allegiance to intern them, even though it has originally liberated them while hostilities were going on outside the territory it occupies, in particular where such persons have made an unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the armed forces to which they belong and which are engaged in combat, or where they fail to comply with a summons made to them with a view to internment.

(2) The persons belonging to one of the categories enumerated in the present Article, who have been received by neutral or non-belligerent Powers on their territory and whom these Powers are required to intern under international law, without prejudice to any more favourable treatment which these Powers may choose to give and with the exception of Articles 8, 10, 15, 30, fifth paragraph, 58-67, 92, 126 and, where diplomatic relations exist between the Parties to the conflict and the neutral or non-belligerent Power concerned, those Articles concerning the Protecting Power. Where such diplomatic relations exist, the Parties to a conflict on whom these persons depend shall be allowed to perform towards them the functions of a Protecting Power as provided in the present Convention, without prejudice to the functions which these Parties normally exercise in conformity with diplomatic and consular usage and treaties.

C. This Article shall in no way affect the status of medical personnel and chaplains as provided for in Article 33 of the present Convention.

Note that prisoners of war must be in compliance with the laws of war. Terrorists do not qualify under the Geneva Conventions.

Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

Part III : Captivity #Section II : Internment of prisoners of war #Chapter I : General observations

ARTICLE 21

The Detaining Power may subject prisoners of war to internment. It may impose on them the obligation of not leaving, beyond certain limits, the camp where they are interned, or if the said camp is fenced in, of not going outside its perimeter. Subject to the provisions of the present Convention relative to penal and disciplinary sanctions, prisoners of war may not be held in close confinement except where necessary to safeguard their health and then only during the continuation of the circumstances which make such confinement necessary.

Prisoners of war may be partially or wholly released on parole or promise, in so far as is allowed by the laws of the Power on which they depend. Such measures shall be taken particularly in cases where this may contribute to the improvement of their state of health. No prisoner of war shall be compelled to accept liberty on parole or promise.

Upon the outbreak of hostilities, each Party to the conflict shall notify the adverse Party of the laws and regulations allowing or forbidding its own nationals to accept liberty on parole or promise. Prisoners of war who are paroled or who have given their promise in conformity with the laws and regulations so notified, are bound on their personal honour scrupulously to fulfil, both towards the Power on which they depend and towards the power which has captured them, the engagements of their paroles or promises. In such cases, the Power on which they depend is bound neither to require nor to accept from them any service incompatible with the parole or promise given.

Note that prisoners of war may be interned for the duration of hostilities.

Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

Part III : Status and treatment of protected persons #Section I : Provisions common to the territories of the parties to the conflict and to occupied territories

ARTICLE 33

No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.Pillage is prohibited.Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.

Note that terrorism is banned by the conventions. Therefore, since terrorists do not abide by the laws of warfare, they are not protected by the conventions, and there is no requirement to treat them as prisoners of war. However, the protections of prisoners of war are greater than those afforded to terrorists, therefore, it is not illegal to intern or detain combatants who are caught on the battlefield, but who engage in terrorism, for the duration of hostilities. We can try them for war crimes after al Qaeda surrenders, and if they never surrender, then it sucks to be them.

I wish we could lose some of the lawyers that defend this scum to Al-Qaeda. Lets see if they get the "Club Gitmo" treatment from the enemy, that they demand we give to them. Instead all these lawyers get integrated into this regime at various cabinet levels and so forth.

PC is the end of any nation. And of course we've decided to speed it along with the help of Statists via the Commie, Socialist Democrat party and their friendly enablers and sidekicks John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor and Co. Yeahhh baby.... time to Parteyyy!!!